We had finally moved into our new home for quite a while and we had gotten pretty used to the new environment (in which we are seriously getting really bored with the food at Kopitiam, Rivervale Plaze). The kitchen is somehow still not done up, at least everything else around the house are up and ready. Therefore, we are leave with the most tedious chore of all, unpacking everything into place.

My eldest female cousin, Elynn, had finally gone through with her wedding yesterday and it had been a very nice dinner at Novotel Hotel (which is directly above Liang Court giving me the convenience of finally going down to Kinokuniya to get the long-needed pen ink refill). I sincerely wish and hope for the best for her and her new-established family with her husband and her baby boy, Eusebius.

I finally attended the last tutorial this afternoon in which I had my Statistic midterm (that I have only one thing to say, messed up). This marks the end of this current semester and the start of the study break leading to our exams. Hopefully, I will be able to pass this semester as I did with the previous semesters and get a step ahead towards my Bachelor degree of Psychology.

This is more or less the few things happening in my life, thus, I shall conclude with what I had thought of during a taxi ride with my mum going down to my grandma’s place,

Reasons to why I don’t take taxi:
1. Taxi driver are not GPS, they do not know how to go to every single place in this tiny country.
2. Due to Reason 1, there is no one to blame when you can’t get to your desired destination.
3. There is a need for unnecessary communication with a stranger.
4. Due to Reason 3, one can only blame oneself when choosing to take a taxi and needing to talk to the taxi driver.
5. I get motion sickness easily.
6. I hate staying in small, enclosed area such as a restroom cubicle, taxi, etc.
7. The air in the taxi is never “fresh” because of all those Air Freshener.
8. Due to Reason 5, 6 and 7, I get motion sickness even more quickly.
9. Some taxi drivers are seriously just crap and more crap.
10.Last but not least, it’s sincerely expensive to get yourself stuff in a small, enclosed area and making yourself awfully sick.

I got a new camera. Although it is not a DSLR, I am very satisfied to at least be a step closer to that goal.
Therefore, Nikon Coolpix L120 is it,

I will be looking forward to taking pictures with the Ourangirls although it’ll be awhile later considering 2 of them isn’t back in Singapore and the nearest birthday would be JH’s in August.

In addition to that, my mum’s Starhub line was finally terminated last Saturday. As there is seriously no phone that interest me to the point that I am willing to get my parents to pay a few hundred bucks for it (and I seriously don’t want an iphone no matter what dad says), we decided on HTC Wildfire S that is suitable for my mum to use (being so small and having good enough specs dependent on her usage).

Thus, I will be using it till around October or so, when dad can re-contract his line.

Some other things that had happened were; School had started and I’m happy that my tutorials are pretty alright. Results were out on Monday and there is no need for retaking of any module and I achieved better results than the previous semester (there is still plenty of improvement to be done, however). Debbie finally starting a new phrase of her life in Australia studying for 2years. We hope the best for her and that she will stay safe and achieve over there.

With these few additions and adjustment in my life, I shall conclude this post with this song (lyrics written by Keigo),

Ryutaro has been my favorite since HSJ started. I actually regretted not knowing him earlier as I never get into the habit of watching the Johnny’s Juniors much. However, when HSJ debuted, my attention had been immediately captured by the cute little boy of the mere age of 12 years old and it has always been so even to this very day. Just imagine, how many kids in elementary school would have the chance of being on the big screen, even if it’s with 9 other people? The answer is obvious, not much. Elementary school kids are supposed to be in school, happily playing with their classmates at the playground, hating and making fun of the opposite sex and just being kids. However, this young boy, had been taken out and put in front of the camera and working his ass out instead of really doing that. I’m not saying that Johnny’s had deprived him of anything (considering he had been pretty happy about being in HSJ) but I feel that there is a need to see the bigger picture and consider what things would be like in his shoes (and training at Johnny’s is definitely not a breeze either).

“But the other Juniors/HSJ are doing fine and NOT smoking,” I may hear you say. However, do we really know what is happening behind that big bulky camera? Ask yourself sincerely, DO YOU?? I can immediately admit that, Nope, I don’t know a thing. Johnny has always tries to be as transparent as he could be with the artists under him with J-Web, magazine interviews about private life and such. But, how transparent can he be? He isn’t them and the things he could do/control is actually limited. We had gone through many a times when we get seriously upset about an artist/idol because of a scandal that we truly cannot believe s/he would be in. However, how many fans did learned the lesson that no matter how much you think/believe yourself to know that artist/idol, you never really truly know him/her. There is a need to understand reality from perception regardless of how difficult it could be because it’s dangerous to mixed them up. Which is what happens in this incident.

Indeed, from what we could see, he seems more than happy enough with what he has and what he’s doing. However, who seriously knew what is going on other than him himself? Humans are good at masking, idols are trained professionals at masking. Therefore, is what we are seeing, hearing and saying exactly true? I will not try to defend him in the smoking matter because he did actually confess to doing it and it’s unmistakably and legally wrong and I do hate smokers (no offence). On the other hand, isn’t there a need to understand what triggers the act? Without much doubt, this will never be known to us. Even with the “smoked out of curiosity” excuse having been given, what exactly is the underlying motive may, occasionally, not even be recognized by the person him/herself. You may find this ridiculous but it is the truth in the psychological point of view.

I swear I am and will forever be a fan of HSJ and Ryutaro, and he would indefinitely be my ichiban in this group (because my love goes to Massu of NEWS). Still, I do not find Ryutaro innocent in this situation as he had undoubtedly done the act and nothing can be said or done to undo it. Nevertheless, I believe that the more important thing is to understand what has gone astray and how it can be fixed. I cannot understand people calling themselves “fans” could start bitching about things when it happens or people who just supports blindly without thinking about how it would help Ryutaro (no offence again). Yes, I do support Ryutaro, but not at the moment as I truly believes that he definitely needs some alone time to reflect. Thus, wouldn’t it be better to support him after some cooling off period and not just trying to make Johnny-san make a decision now because that would never happen. Certainly, you can start supporting now (and I sincerely thank all those out there supporting) but please do not try to rush into things. Johnny-san is only making a decision that every other discipline master in a school would do, just on a bigger, brighter scale.

The existence of a group/band is not by the number of people in it but by how we see it. If HSJ is 10 members in our heart, even if there is gonna be 9 members on stage, it would still be 10 members for us. Consider times when HSJ split up to do different things, don’t we still see them as HSJ and not just individuals? If so, is there really a need to be so persistent about numbers? There is no doubt that the other members were affected, but just calm down and think, if they could make it through, why can’t the fans do so? If there is really no chance in having Ryutaro back, is HSJ gonna die? Of course not. Take a look at NEWS and you’ll get a real-life example. NEWS continues on from 9 to 8 to 6 members. They went through so much for so long with people (including themselves) thinking that it’ll never work, but, what do you see now? A successful group (not counting the recent Yamapi issue) with wonderful members. Although Uchi is still a Junior, isn’t his success pretty straight forward?

Times like this, fans should work together and stay strong for their idols as that is what they needed most and not more whining or issues. Let’s face it people, Ryutaro is out and he shall stay out for the moment but if we really do support and love him, give him some time to think through and just pray for him. Regardless of whether he’s a HSJ or not, Ryutaro will stay Ryutaro and HSJ will stay HSJ.

Living here with uncle Ken and Grandma had not been a culture-shock considering we had always been living here when my mum was having Owen and when she accidentally fractured her leg (for what reason is over me). Although it had been a while back (few ten years ago), it’s not a total new experience for most of us (Owen is adapting well enough although he’s too young back then to remember).

I guess uncle Ken and Grandma are both very happy to have us here because their house had always been very quiet (imagine one person on each floor with minimum or no interact). However, after living here for only a day, I’m seriously reconsidering on buying a landed property with 2 storeys or more because being as absentminded as I, climbing the stairs is a total chore.

I do admit, other than stairs-climbing, there is really nothing bad with staying at uncle Ken’s place because everything is there for us (wireless, tv and whatever you could think of). In addition to how time is somehow passing by without me noticing, 3 months would not be a big deal at all. Still, can’t wait to move to our new house and be jiahui’s next door neighbour.

First, I came across ギニーピッグ or The Guinea Pig films which were a series of seven controversial 1980s and 1990s Japanese gore-slasher horror films. Saw some pictures of one of the film here and here which you are warned not to open if you think you won’t be able to take it (especially the second link) after you read the short synopsis on Wikipedia.

Then, I realized he is actually a manga artist and off I go searching for his work (don’t ask me what happened to my studies, I do need a break. I’m just human anyway). Finished 2 of his work and will finish the others probably after exams but just wanted to share this, in the foreword to Hino’s “Hell Baby” (Blast Books, 1995; (c) 1989 Hideshi Hino):

“Like the Worms That Crawl the Earth…”

Living like the worms that crawl the earth
Discarded like the worms that crawl the earth
Squashed like the worms that crawl the earth
Burdened with grief like the worms that crawl the earth
Holding your breath like the worms that crawl the earth

Let us return to the tender darkness
Into the silent, infinite darkness
We shall some day return

– Shin-iye Antsu, Poetry of Darkness

Therefore, a lot of things have happened within these near 2 months. A lot of days had started, went by and ended. A lot of hair had grown, lengthen and tied up (I think my hair isn’t growing fast enough to see that much of a difference). A lot of packet of sweets had been bought, eaten and thrown away. A lot of dramas had started, finished and ended (okay, maybe this is a little dramatic). A lot of people had been befriended, known and pushed away (seriously, where did this sentence come from?). A lot of books had been taken, read and done with (nope, I’m still preparing for my exams). A lot of birthdays had gone by and forgotten (I should really stop now).

Anyway, in conclusion, a lot of things had gone by and new events had started (should have just wrote this from the start). Although we hasn’t gotten our key to the new house, we’re starting to pack up and getting ready to move over to uncle ken’s house during the start of June while waiting for our new house to finish renovation. I can only say I seriously hate moving because it just reeks of one word, troublesome. I tried packing some of my stuff and finished with 2 big boxes (one full of clothes, the other of fandom stuff) and I’m already pretty upset but there’s still so many things!! I would have loved to have my mum do it for me (since that’s what she did the previous time when I just won’t pack my luggage for Japan) but my aunt told her not to (considering she wouldn’t know what to keep and what to throw). However, come to think of it, even with her warning of wanting to just throw everything away, I’m earnestly considering letting her do the rest of my packing instead.

Whatever it is, when the time comes, the time comes. Thus, no matter who becomes the last ‘packer’, things will definitely be packed and house will be moved (!! Now that I’m writing these, I realized we’ll still have to move from ken’s to our new house!! No!! Definitely letting mum and dad do it all then).

Anyway, apart from packing, getting ready to move and preparing for my final exams, there really isn’t much interesting or new development in my life (as expected from someone who loves staying home and really did). Hence, I shall end here and be back after my exams ending first week of June.

I went around Fairprice for less than an hour (which I felt was long enough) and got

Actually, I couldn’t remember what triggered my sudden recollection of how I like Heinz baby food and my craving for it. I couldn’t even remember the particular thing I wanted (other than the fact that it’s some biscuit of sort) but I went, looked and saw biscotti. Although after visiting the site just now and realizing what I wanted was actually Rusk, I still think biscotti is good (which would be one of my snacks from now on). In addition, I bought Ricola and Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate and Barilla’s Penne Rigate. After, I went off to Watsons to find Blistex’s Raspberry Lemonade Blast (which I used, found to be very delicious and lost) but to no avail. I moved off to Guardians and found and bought the lip balm (first of the three) from this collection (which I was seriously amused by):

There are many different collections from Coca-Cola to Sprite which you can take a look from here. I seriously didn’t have this phase “Lip Smacker” in my dictionary until after buying this (heard it in Glee’s “Original Song” but didn’t realized it). However, after using it, I concluded that the Sprite scent isn’t very strong after you put it on but it’s not bad at all. I’m gonna just continue using it since I already bought it but I really do love Blistex’s Raspberry Lemonade Blast because it’s seriously delicious (I remember telling Jacqueline that I have the urge to just eat it whole). At least it’s a lot better than Valerie’s so-called M&M lip balm that totally smelled like Gold Coin cheap chocolate (which gets really scary after a while in an enclosed room).

Oh, and I got a haircut today.

Seriously, it’s supposed to be a simple birthday celebration for yong ying but all of a sudden there’s this combined chapter outing which was compulsory unless you have real valid reason. I tried spending the whole day after receiving the message to think of a valid excuse but to no avail (birthday celebration obviously doesn’t count).

Therefore, I found myself on the way to Sentosa with my textbooks and notes at 8 in the morning. I was supposed to stay at the ending point and do my reading while the others run around playing amazing race but because of the short of manpower, I became one of the station’s game master instead. Studying on Palawan Beach was a definite no, thus I ended up with only half of my journal article and around 4pages of my textbook done. The main point is, even though there’s lots of walking, lots of rain, I had a very nice chat with Issac, Adolphus, Clara (and one guy I had no idea what his name is).

Then, finally went off to Bugis to meet the rest. At first, Jia Hui told me to wait at the cross-junction near TCC, I just sat at the edge of the building (there’s some places to sit around the wall but not a real sitting area) facing the road. I started reading my textbook but realized people might be pretty amused and were staring at me, thus I stared back and kind of started looking at the road, cars and people moving around. I was pretty engrossed with all the things I could see and thinking of all the mental process that must be working “automatically” in my mind (I’m doing cognition, therefore you can’t blame me for being so amazed by what our minds could do) when I realized no one was looking at me anymore. When you’re sitting and reading a textbook at a cross-junction, they wonder what you’re doing and look at you. However, when you’re sitting and staring ahead, they conclude you’re waiting for someone and walk away. This is one good example of why people are just so interesting.

Alright, in the end, we went to Ajisen for dinner and as Jia Hui had to rush back to bring her grandma to the hospital (take care, jia hui’s grandma!), Berlinda decided we should take a group photo first. Somehow, Tiffany became the one holding the camera making her be at the front with us behind and around her. While looking at the photo that she took, Tiffany was shocked by how big her head looked and everyone just concluded I should be the one holding the camera because my head is small. Looking at the photo that I took, they said it’s a lot better with the heads all in proportion and the previous photo should be deleted. I told them that I don’t see much difference but they rebuked the idea with Berlinda saying that my head is originally small and even smaller now with my fringe covering my forehead.

Anyway, with the photos taken, Jia Hui went off and the rest of us walked around BHG looking for a wallet for Jacqueline’s birthday. As usual, there’s nothing suitable thus Berlinda suggested going Orchard (i think it was supposed to be a joke) and there we went (with yong ying going home to watch tottenham’s match). We walked around Ion, Takashimaya to no avail and because it’s getting late with most shops closed or closing for the day, we decided to go home.

Now, the main point of this whole post is this, when I got home, I nearly die from all the ache in my body. I told mum that maybe I should go for massaging (but that’s not gonna happen because I don’t like people touching me) but my parents just decided that I won’t be able to take the massaging as I’m too skin and bone (because a lot of strength is used during the massage and I do not have enough muscle to hold the strength). In conclusion, I went to sleep after using up the whole pack of medical plaster (and my shoulders still ache till now).

Whatever it is, we’re moving house within the year.

By the way, our house was sold and we’re gonna get the key to the new house in April.